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CafeX integration for omni-channel service beefs up Microsoft Dynamics 365

CafeX provides Dynamics with full omni-channel capabilities for both mobile and Web, upgrading its capabilities significantly against its competition.

New York City-based CafeX Communications has announced that CafeX Live Assist for Microsoft Dynamics 365 is now available for public preview, and is open for free 30-day trials globally. CafeX makes an omni-channel solution which is both Web and mobile compatible, and which significantly upgrades Dynamics’ ability to enhance customer experiences.

CafeX was formed a little over four years ago as a spinoff from a services company.

“Our focus with CafeX was to leverage software to change the way in which people collaborate,” said Sajeel Hussain, CMO at CafeX. “We came up with software that provides the agents with the right tools to guide end customers. They can interact with the customer to provide tips, do things like call browsing, or help users fill out forms. Live Assist can also incorporate voice and video.

“LiveAssist won product of the year at Enterprise Connect in 2014, and that put us on the map,” Hussain said. “From there, we signed OEM partnerships with companies like Cisco and Avaya. They had really good solutions for videoconferencing and contact centre, but what enterprises wanted was the ability to collaborate within the app without users having to set up another app. We do this, making the end consumer experience painless and streamlined.”

The OEM relationships were also important in developing a customer base among large enterprises.

“They got the attention of several banks, and six of the top 10 world banks became customers, in part through our OEM relationships,” Hussain said. “We were able to fine tune solutions to meet the needs of very large enterprise customers.” Intel came in as an investor, and Microsoft also noticed CafeX.

“A little over a year ago, Microsoft came to us with two requirements,” Hussain stated. “Dynamics platform customers wanted omni-channel solutions so they could engage through their channels of choice. Microsoft also wanted their agents to have a very productive experience.”

While Dynamics was upgraded significantly in its 2015 modernization, it still did not have full omni-channel capability.

“Microsoft had acquired Parature in 2014 to enhance customer experience, and it provided a level of chat, but that was about it,” Hussain said. “It didn’t live up to some of the customer expectations, and didn’t scale to voice and video. We started working with Microsoft very closely, and they opened up hooks into their software that are not publicly available. LiveAssist now maps into the Microsoft Dynamics console. It’s a very tight integration, which looks and feels like a Microsoft product, and is tested and certified by Microsoft.”

Hussain emphasized that the LiveAssist integration eliminates the gap in collaboration capabilities that had existed between Dynamics and competitors like Salesforce.

“The Microsoft partnership with CafeX not only levels the playing field, but also gets Microsoft a little ahead,” he stated. “We have one solution that does everything – chat, co-browse, voice and video. Salesforce has SOS, that provides the ability to do video calls and co-browse, but which is a bit of a bolt- on approach. It needs you to launch into video first in order to do co-browse and we don’t. SOS is also still only mobile. It’s not yet available for Web, although they have plans for that.”

Hussain also said that LiveAssist’s capabilities extend beyond its omni-channel capabilities.

“We can engage with content. It’s not just reactive chat, which is highly commoditized today. Besides the omni-channel capabilities, we can enable enterprises to engage with content, referring adjacent products, and you can create these engagements on the fly.”

Even though CafeX was selling LiveAssist to large enterprises, Hussain emphasized that the technology is a great fit for the broader Dynamics customer base.

“This is very much a broad horizontal solution, and is not just for large enterprises,” he said. “It was built and designed with broad use in mind. While it will sell to large Fortune 50s, companies with 200 or less are very interested. Because it runs on Azure, as a pure SaaS solution, even a mom and pop store could use this. At the same time, it also supports complex engagement campaigns.”

Hussain noted that as Dynamics is heavily partner-centric, the go-to-market here will be heavily focused on the partner side of things. However, he indicated as well that CafeX has now created its own partner program to broaden its own go-to-market. In addition to LiveAssist, their portfolio includes offerings like Chime, a video conferencing solution with allows conferencing with a click without having to download anything on any browser, and with a significant bandwidth saving.

“We have launched a channel partner program, for both strategic partners like SIs as well as for resellers,” he said. “Channel partners who believe there is an intersect should get in touch with us.”

The free 30-day trial of the omni-channel service can be accessed through this link.